GAME OF THE DAY

Blackbox: puzzles for the mind

These mind-warping mysteries will stretch the limits of your imagination.

Blackbox – brain puzzles

Think outside the box

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The inventive puzzle game Blackbox tests more than your wits. It pushes the boundaries of what puzzle games can be – and how you play them.

There’s little to tap or swipe here, no characters to manoeuvre. Instead, you’ll tinker with your iPhone itself: rotating it, laying it flat, shouting into its speaker, adjusting the brightness of the display.

[Photo description: This screenshot of a Blackbox puzzle shows a large red circle with a slice cut out of it. Inside this circle is a smaller concentric circle composed of white tick marks, perhaps evoking a compass or a timepiece. Spinning around as you hold your iPhone might give you a clue to the puzzle’s meaning.]

Solving puzzles in Blackbox requires tinkering with the iPhone itself: rotating it, laying it flat, shouting into its speaker, even adjusting the brightness of the display.

And – especially useful for the visually impaired – Blackbox also has great support for iPhone’s VoiceOver accessibility feature. Turn it on to get verbal/auditory rather than visual clues which make this a fun and engaging experience in its own right.

[Photo description: A screenshot of a Blackbox puzzle shows a thin, white parabola set on a black background, with a small glowing circle on the line. Could the puzzle’s solution involve something that rises and falls along an arched path each day?]

As confounding as it may be, Blackbox’s smart design prevents roadblocks. You can tackle puzzles in any order, so if you get stuck on one, just move to another. A tiered system unspools hints as you need them – each bearing the game’s trademark subtle humour.

Blackbox fully supports the VoiceOver accessibility feature in iOS. Turn it on to get verbal and auditory clues rather than visual ones – a fun and engaging experience in its own right. However you tackle this one-of-a-kind game, the journey is bound to be mind-bending.